In recent thread created to discuss the credibility of goldentbelt.co.uk forum member Mateus piped in a few comments that had a few eyebrows raised and promted a little investigation.

He made a few claims such as:

Black belt , is the beggining of training, In the system I practice its a 24hr + exam tailored to the individual, and knowing the Instructor, it will be the most evil 24hrs of your life (and thats after 12 Months of constant technical examinations) ... Takes on average around 6-8 years to achieve a Black belt grade ... then you start to learn properly

He was then asked

"And which system is this? How much of that 24 hours includes actual fighting?"

His reply..

Bout 18 or so... We have to fight everyone in the club.... (Thats 376 people)

Laying himself wide open for ridicule he continued to make very bullshido-esque claims and statements such as:

(On Sparring)

Sparring is just a way of testing techniques ... I hate these sport fighters who practice stuff like kick boxing (which is essentially contact style Karate) and then think that its actual fighting...

(On His Black Belt grading)

24 hour + .. Basically they are trying to break you (I think) .. Here in england we have the Best Armed Forces in the world and as the Style is run by a former SAS guy he runs us all pretty hard...

as for the grading, the ones ive been to are pretty full on.. Knives, sticks, bottles, closed environment, debris environment, stairs, grappling punching kicking, 2 on 1, 3 on 1 etc etc ...

I have not been through the grading myself .. only been one of the protaganists.. I wore a crash helmet and carried a baseball bat.. My job was to act like an idiot (something im good at) ... So obvious swings were the order of the day, and yes the Sifu debreifed us on safety issues before hand. But he gave the impression to the BB candidate that we were gonna Go for it fully

.

Until I experience the grading myself I cannnot comment on what the BB candidate must feel like.. Ive only been training in the system for 7 years and am not due for a black belt for another 2 years..

I then gave him a bit of grief calling bullshit on him, to which he replied:

Im 42 years old I served 22 years in the royal Marines (A regiment famous for boxing), served in desert storm, Bosnia and northern ireland, when I left the service I worked in columbia for the americans... I have experienced real combat Biatch, more than youll ever get in a Crappy ring..

Follow the link to instructors and you will find: (Dressed in nice Ninja Gear)

Lao Shi Mateus

This exponent of Southern Style Kung Fu is a second-generation combat instructor, whose father was an Instructor of Jungle Warfare and Unarmed Combat in Malaya. Mateus has studied many different styles of Martial Arts in Paris, Hawaii, Scotland, the Far East, London & Bournemouth since he was 8 years old. An expert in Traditional Weapons, Malaysian Sil-Lum Pai, Chin-Na and Wing Tsun Gung Fu. Mateus holds a Fourth degree black sash in Shaolin Gungfu and is a registered Senior instructor in the art of Nan-Pei Chuen and Chen Family Tai Chi Chuan. Mateus unquestionable passion for Martial Arts has inspired him to teach full-time. He has a dedicated number of senior students who aid him in his teaching.

"This practitioner of Shinobo-no mono describes his art as, combative skills for working one's will in the world, and philosophies and spiritual training. As a martial system, all of these arenas are focused on enduring conflict succesfully, and the "nin" kanji in Japanese can be translated as "endurance" or "perseverance". Ninpo is characterized by some as "the art of winning".Little is known of this instructors background and his students are chosen carefully."

I hate when this happens. Ninja's in the rafters. This happened to me once in a house I bought in the inner city. Thery are damn near impossible to get rid of, and not just any exterminator will take the job.

I'm deployed in Colombia right now. It's relativly easy to find out if he was here. If you can get his real name I can ask a few people about it and get an answer. There aren't a whole lot of things he could be doing here working for the "Americans".

I hate when this happens. Ninja's in the rafters. This happened to me once in a house I bought in the inner city. Thery are damn near impossible to get rid of, and not just any exterminator will take the job.

i have heard that rafter ninjas are the only animals that can survive a nuclear winter.
Dont you hate it when you step on one and another crawls out of the wall cracks?

However, I suspect that MD in this context stands for Managing Director. No doctor in the UK would refer to themselves as an MD. Unlike the US an MD in the UK is post graduate qualification that practicing doctor's have to work to get. It's their equivalent of a PhD.